But yeah seeing Shaak Ti killed that way by Grievous should have been in the film IMO. Just to let everyone fear Grievous a bit more.

I agree 100%. Grievous is supposed to be this feared Jedi killer, but forget about what we're supposed to think about him, what did we see in the film? He was involved in 2 fights total: He ran away in the first one, and was killed in the 2nd. Not too fearsome from where I stand.

I really wonder if the reason why the Shaak Ti slaying was cut from the film was the emergence of those hostage tapes by terrorists in the Middle East. There were a whole series of them when the film was being made, where 5 masked gunmen would stand around a weak pathetic looking hostage on the floor, then eventually they'd cut his head off. As Obi Wan and Anakin approached Shaak Ti, that was my first reaction the first time I saw the scene. It brought me right back to when I saw the Nick Berg execution video, something I wish I had never seen.

I suppose it was a way to cut time and tighten up the action, but I agree that leaving out that scene took away from Grievous' characterization. If we hadn't watched the Clone Wars cartoons, we'd just think he was a weezy coward that wouldn't command too much respect. I had to explain him to people that had not seen the cartoon.

I'd rather see the Shaak Ti than the first elevator scene, if we're talking about editing the movie down. Its more a matter of taste, but that scene didn't add the excitement I think it was supposed to. R2 could have kicked ass on his own.

IMO that entire opening sequence (up until our victorious heroes land on the Senate platform) drags like an AT-AT in cement. The key part is the Dooku saber duel, and the rest is just filler that frankly bores the hell out of me.

I would have--cut the buzzdroid sequence to get them onto the flagship much faster,--cut every shred of battledroid dialogue (man, that was stupid)--and all the elevator hijinks--and the R2 fighting sequence (it's amusing but pretty irrelevant and silly),--added back in the Shaak Ti/dunk tank series for the aforementioned reasons--and cut the protracted crashing sequence to a much shorter length.

This would get us into the main story faster and free up 10-15 minutes for the Birth of the Rebellion scenes and so forth.

Thoughts? Am I alone in thinking the present cut is the boring-est opening 20 minutes in any SW film?